How to manage/remove startup Programs in Windows 7

"knwetlk" wrote in message news:c2ff3fd1-3e32-46d9-9522-ec05034a2db1...

> How do I manage programs that startup on Windows 7

First, note that you should be concerned with *all* programs that start

automatically, not just with those that go into the system tray. Not all

autostarting programs manifest themselves by an icon in the tray.

On each program you don't want to start automatically, check its Options to

see if it has the choice not to start (make sure you actually choose the

option not to run it, not just a "don't show icon" option). Many can easily

and best be stopped that way. If that doesn't work, run MSCONFIG from the

Start | Run line, and on the Startup tab, uncheck the programs you don't

want to start automatically.

However, if I were you, I wouldn't do this just for the purpose of running

the minimum number of programs. Despite what many people tell you, you

should be concerned, not with how *many* of these programs you run, but

*which*. Some of them can hurt performance severely, but others have no

effect on performance.

Don't just stop programs from running willy-nilly. What you should do is

determine what each program is, what its value is to you, and what the cost

in performance is of its running all the time. You can try google searches

and ask about specifics here.

Once you have that information, you can make an intelligent informed

decision about what you want to keep and what you want to get rid of.

--

Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP (Windows Desktop Experience) since 2003

Ken Blake

As GordonBP mentioned, the best way to control that would be from the individual applicatons when you can. A lot of programs have settings to control whether it runs when windows loads.

Other options:

From a run box type 'msconfig' and select the Startup Tab. You can uncheck the applications you wish to stop from loading with windows

Another option is Autoruns , which is an excellent startup manager.

Microsoft® Security MVP, 2004 - 2010

Two ways - either change the start-up options in the applications themselves, or remove them from the Startup menu folder...

Depends on what these (secret) programs are...

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